Slitherine

Until Wolves from the Sea arrives my Carolingians will have to pretend to be somebody else, and Lombard seemed the most obvious morph (the other possibility was the tail end of the Later Visigothic list).

I have 4 Generals, 34 bases of heavy cavalry, 12 of LF archers, 12 of MF archers, 34 of spearmen and 12 Mob (plus some stuff the Carolingians get, but the Lombards don't like 10 bases of Breton/Basque LH) giving me a bit over 1000 points in total

From this I get the following 800 point list
4 * TC
4 * 6 Superior armoured Lancers/Swordsmen
1 * 4 Superior armoured Lancers/Swordsmen
1 * 8 MF Average archers
2 * 6 LF Average archers
3 * 8 Poor Protected defensive spearmen
1 * 8 Mob

Should I divide up a pair of my larger lancer units into 3 * 4 like the African Vandal list at Madaxeman's site does?
Should I drop 2 of my militia spear units for another small lancer unit? or maybe drop 1 to turn 4 lancers into 6 lancers?
Would I be better off with an IC? If so where do I find the extra 45 points? lose a militia spear and the mob?

At 1000 points my figure mix doesn't leave me much wiggle room. My best army looks to be:
1 * IC
3 * TC
3 * 6 Superior armoured Lancers/Swordsmen
4 * 4 Superior armoured Lancers/Swordsmen
2 * 6 MF Average archers
2 * 6 LF Average archers
4 * 8 Poor Protected defensive spearmen
1 * 10 Mob

is this list legal? I thought you were required to take 6 elements of the less heavily armoured follower cav? The only incarnation of this list I have written featured allied Bulgars, Bavarians and Suebi (the invasion horde of King Alboin). Its a good mix of troops but 3 allied commanders is probably asking for trouble!

martin

Before 776 the inferior cavalry are compulsory; afterwards they are unavailable. If I understand correctly, the line-of-good-stuff-followed-by-line-of-bad-stuff formation vanished after being given a kicking by the Franks.